Here’s your chance to be part of a new record label headed by US Producer Alan Steward. We are looking for male and female vocalists, rappers, dancers for videos and stage and an awesome percussion player for a new project.

Send us your demos:

Send me your track

Now you can take that famous Buddha home with you. Also available in Alan Steward’s Reverbnation Store but we would like for you to come out to one of the shows, pick one up and get an autographed CD to boot. Is that a deal or what?

We had the chance to chat with him about the new release that is close to his heart, and his thoughts on how focusing on single releases and offering free downloads is helping him get his music, and message, out to more listeners than ever. We found that Ziggy’s thoughts are very much in line with what Alan Steward has been preaching for a while now. You can read Alan’s article on “Music Success in the age on ITunes” right HERE!

Africa Land, which features brother Stephen Marley and Beninoise singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo, is a celebration, meant to promote the idea of African unity, as well as global unity, during this time when “all eyes are on Africa.” Marley drew from many different sources to create the sound and vibe of Africa Land. His concept was to bring together the sounds and groove of African reggae and dancehall beats to create something that could be danced to. This was a collaboration in cultures, styles, and artists, and in this way, the bones of the song itself symbolize unity as much as the meaning that comes through in the lyrics.

According to Marley, Africa Land went through many phases, or as he calls them, “growing pains,” in its creation. “It changed so much from the first idea to how it ended up,” he told me. One of the most notable changes was the tempo; it started out as a very slow song and became much faster as the development went on. Marley explained that for him the creation process is all about experimenting, seeing what goes and what doesn’t, and learning what new form the music can take.

Africa Land is the first release in a series of free singles by Marley, called the Wild and Free Singles. And according to Marley, these singles can be described as exactly that, “wild and free.” When I asked if there is a thread that will tie together these releases, Marley explained that more than a central theme is a central spirit: “Something that is wild and free really doesn’t have any rules, it just does what it does.” Each single will have its own energy. There is no specific time frame for the releases⎯each single will come as it comes, as Marley allows it to unfold and truly be wild and free.

The Wild and Free Singles demonstrate that in this digital world of music, releasing music is not dependent on whether or not a full album’s worth of tracks are complete for distribution. Got only one song ready? No need to wait for the rest of the album to come together before your music can get heard. “It just goes back to what it was before⎯put out a few singles before the album,” Marley commented. “Doing one song at a time as singles is also interesting because you can focus on one song, you’re not worrying about 9 or 10 songs.”

I asked Marley why it was so important for him to distribute Africa Land, as well as the other Wild and Free singles, to stores that would sell it at no cost. His answer? “I don’t need to sell everything⎯everything is not about selling, buying, and commerce. Some things are just about giving.” He sees this “giving model” as a way for any artist, no matter how well known, to get music out and generate interest. If the object is to be heard, the music needs to be out there, and easily obtainable: “Let people get more exposed to your music so they may be willing to buy some music eventually.”

So how has digital distribution shaped him as an artist? For one, it has gotten him much more involved in music creation as well as the music community in general. “When I started out doing music, everything was physical. I’m really starting to want to communicate more with the fans over the internet and get a feel for what they’re feeling and work with them to make some good music for them. I like that interaction actually, it helps me to make better music.”

And we certainly like that interaction too. Look out for more Wild and Free singles, which will be released, well, whenever they’re ready. Though he’s currently in the “single” mindset, Marley is looking toward an album release next year.

http://reverbnation.com/tunepak/2696886

This Tunepak contains five of my best songs. Please send the link to your friends.

Tambor World Music Festival, June 26th, Gent, Belgium

Fiesta City Festival, August 27th, Verviers, Belgium

Festivals, Promoters!!!

If you still have a slot open at your festival for the most original act of 2010, hit us up!
bookings@alansteward.com

Music from another dimension – Alan Steward

You only know what you know goes the saying. I didn’t know Alan Steward or his music until he appeared like a ninja onto the EMC scene and totally amazed my ears with his eclectic electronic fusion style which I can only say is not like anything I have heard before.

Yeh, you had the psychedelic? music and electro beat boxey type tracks in the past and they all had their place and maybe even influenced Alan in some fashion, but I’m only assuming here of course because his talent may have been born to him at birth which would rightly put him in the classy bracket of music production as the soothing tones mixed with a punchy underside (I have no musical vocabulary, so on this occasion I’m sure you will grant me a pass) gave me a relaxing sensation mixed with an expectancy of excitement which never failed to deliver.

I must admit I’m probably not the easiest person to please when it comes to music, but there is something different about this cat called Alan Steward and long may he continue creating great music.

Celebrate greatness while greatness graces your presence.

Alan Steward on Wikipedia

I decided to give you a video sampling of some of Belgium’s finest. I hope you enjoy the videos and get a different opinion of Belgian music.

Hadise – “Dum Tek Tek”

A Belgian Resident who went up for Turkey at last year’s Eurovision Song Festival

Leki – “Elvis”

Resident of Antwerp – Got first record contract at the age of 16

Bai Kamara Jr – “Hope our misery doesn’t entertain you”
Resident of Brussels

There are tons more of talented musicians hiding in the “Belgian Underground”. They just need to be heard. Maybe things change with Tom Dice having a good chance of winning the Eurovision Festival this year and maybe organizations like “The Belgian 40″, a group of musicians that formed a independent label to get their music heard, will make a difference.

I will write in more detail about the Belgian 40 in the next blog post. Stay tuned for good music coming from this corner of the world.

Steve Croft posted such a wonderful review that I just had to re-post it here on the Slim Chance Label Blog.

Alan Steward – Licensed to Chill

I have a confession. Although I am predominantly an acoustic music fan these days, there was a time when I could have gone either way. Let me explain. Thirty years ago (when I was five years old) I had long hair and an Afghan coat. My musical time, as far as I can remember, was spent listening to Gong, Here and Now, and Steve Hillage.
Listening to Alan Steward I remembered why I loved that embryonic trippy-electronica of the seventies and eighties, and why I left it behind. I could never find that same brain-expanding quality in the likes of Jean Michelle Jarre, or Mike Oldfield (and it was the music not any chemical enhancement – the farthest I’ve strayed in that direction is a gallon of real ale).
Alan’s music could, by an unkind ear, be classified as ‘mood music’ but that is to be dismissive of a whole tapestry of sounds, beautifully woven into a deep… Crofty stop before you drift off on some middle eastern carpet metaphor here, just tell us what you think for goodness sake!

 
OK, enough of that semi-literate prosy stuff. Here are reasons to like Alan’s music:
1. It weaves (steady, on the cloth stuff agin Crofty) many multicultural themes around a fabulously rhythmic foundation and leaves you both satisfied and, at the same time, curious to hear more of the snippets from across the world.
2. Summertime demands music like this to ease you through the sweaty days
3. You need music to work to, and this music gets in your head the same way Bach’s does but whereas you know what you are getting with the Brandenburg Concertos, for example, Alan’s music veers off and forces you to explore something new at every turn, without go so far off the track as to be off-putting.
4. Sitting playing with yourself in your bedroom is easy. Sorry, I mean with your guitar, you have a limited range of notes and sounds to work with. I have massive admiration for someone who has the discipline to craft tunes like Alan’s with a palette the size of the whole world of music – how do you do that?
5.
To review this album specifically is difficult, I could tell you my favourite tracks – I love Buddah Bar Fly, Rising from the East, and King of the Chill, but to be honest the whole album’s cool, and will probably become a summer staple for the car (particularly at the end of the day for the drive home).

There’s a lot a planning and technology involved to pull of the one-man-show that is “Alan Steward at the Temple of Boom”. There’s the staging which includes a Buddha Statue as well as the type of Chinese Banners you see a lot in Kung Fu movies to set the atmosphere. Then there are the computer controlled lights and a total of four stands just to hold all the keyboard equipment. The picture here shows the main keyboard rig but there’s much more.

Here’s a list of the equipment used on stage:

M-Audio 49 key MIDI Controller Keyboard
M-Audio Trigger Finger Controller
Korg R-3 Synthesizer/Vocoder
Roland SH-32 Synthesizer
Roland JV-1010 Sound Module
Roland JV-1080 Sound Module

Not in the picture:
mda Virtual E-Piano , C-Machine Virtual Strings,
VSamp Multi Sampler and a Delay Lama voice synth

And then there are the lights:

4 Chauvet Stage Blinder Bars with 384 led lights each (6 meters long in total)
2 PAR 64 Led Washes (front)
2 PAR 56 Led Washes (front)
2 PAR 56 Led Washes (backdrop)
Laserworld 250mw Three Color Laser
Antares Smoke Machine
Chauvet MIDI controlled DMX Master Light Controller

All this is tied together by a half a mile of cables and when everything works, well…. it really works and the Temple of Boom comes alive. Hope to see you at the one of my shows soon.